Robert Conti

Robert Conti (born November 21, 1945) is an American hard bopjazz guitarist and educator.

Conti was born in Philadelphia and was an autodidact, first performing locally at age fourteen. In 1966, after four years on the road touring North America, he settled in Jacksonville, Florida. In 1970 he left music to pursue a career in the securities industry. In 1976 he began playing jazz again. In 1979, he was signed to the Los Angeles–based Discovery Records label. Conti released Latin Love Affair and a Direct To Disc recording titled Solo Guitar as his debut efforts as a leader in 1979. In 1982 he left music again for the business world. In 1985 he managed to released another album, and in 1986 he headlined the Florida National Jazz Festival, with Jimmy McGriff and Nick Brignola as his sidemen. In mid-1988 he was offered a position under filmmaker Dino De Laurentiis in Beverly Hills, California. After a lengthy recovery from a back injury in late 1988, he was offered a position as resident jazz guitarist at the Irvine Marriott. He held that gig until mid-1998. Many of his most recent endeavors have been didactic in nature; since starting his website in 2000, he has released 30 educational DVDs on jazz guitar, including pro chord melody and improvisation using his trademark No Modes No Scales® approach to teaching jazz guitar. In 2009, he released his own line of solid spruce thinline archtop jazz guitars.